TSX Snaps 5-day Winning Streak, Ends Moderately Lower

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market snapped a five-day winning streak and drifted lower on Friday, as worries about slowing growth and policy tightening weighed on stocks.

Investors, looking ahead to next week's policy decision by the Federal Reserve, stayed largely cautious and chose to take some profits.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 79.93 points or 0.42% at 18,982.92, after scaling a low of 18,911.89 and a high of 19,141.65 intraday.

Technology stocks declined, tracking a sell-off in Nasdaq after Snap Inc. plunged 39% to a two-year low after reporting disappointing second quarter results. The company also declined to provide guidance due to "incredibly damaging" conditions, and announced plans to "substantially slow" its rate of hiring.

Healthcare and energy stocks were the other major losers. Materials shares also drifted lower. Real estate, utilities, consumer staples and communications stocks found some support.

Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) ended more than 7% down. Tecsys Inc (TCS.TO), Sierra Wireless (SW.TO), Bombardier Inc (BBD.A.TO), Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO) and Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) shed 5 to 6%. CCL Industries (CCL.A.TO) and Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) also declined sharply.

TFI International (TFII.TO), Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (PBH.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) and Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) lost 1 to 2.3%.

Canadian Apartment Properties (CAR.UN.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO), Spin Master Corp (TOY.TO), Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (RBA.TO), Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc (ATD.TO) and Fortis Inc (FTS.TO) gained 2 to 3.4%.

In economic news, data from Statistics Canada showed retails sales in Canada increased 2.2% in May of 2022 over the previous month. Retail Sales increased 14.1% year-on-year in May.